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KHARTOUM, Sudan — Iran’s president blamed the United States and Israel for the world’s problems Thursday in a lecture to Sudanese officials and intellectuals during his visit to Sudan.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comments came as Iran and Sudan face mounting international criticism — Iran over its nuclear activities and Sudan over the conflict in Darfur.

Earlier, Iranian and Saudi media reported that the hardline president was planning a trip to Saudi Arabia in coming days. The rival countries have been holding talks for weeks in an effort to defuse conflicts in the region, including the sectarian strife in Lebanon and Iraq.

In his lecture Thursday titled “Iran and the World,” the hardline president reiterated arguments that he has made repeatedly throughout the standoff with the United States and its Western allies over Iran’s nuclear activities.

“There is no place in the world that suffers from divisions and wars unless America or the Zionists’ fingerprints are seen there,” Ahmadinejad told his audience in Farsi translated into Arabic.

‘We have to pay attention to the devils’He urged Muslims to rally behind Iran and accused detractors of Iran’s nuclear program of trying to prevent a developing country from making scientific advances.

“Our strength and the cornerstone of the victory is in our (Muslims’) unity ... we have to pay attention to the devils who want to cause divisions among us,” the Iranian president said.